The feature film based on the Book 100% Wolf by Jayne Lyons was avaliable for home viewing in Australia in 2020. You can rent or buy 100% Wolf on googleplay, the itunes store, youtube and prime video. Film screenings around the world were delayed because of COVID restrictions, so watch out for when it is screened near you. See trailer here. The TV series 100% Wolf: The Legend of the Moonstone was broadcast on ABC TV in 2021 and can be seen on ABC iview.
Vicki Bennett's Flying Angel, published in March 2021, is inspired by the life of a remarkable nurse, Sister Marie Eileen Craig. In 1945, she was one of a group of nurses handpicked to rescue injured soldiers from the frontline in Papua New Guinea. Vicki has been visiting schools and doing presentations on writing. Recently, Vicki did a tour in Central North Queensland for the Queensland Writers' Centre where she worked with school children and community groups on 'Telling our Stories to the World'.
Six Seconds, a My Australian Story about the Newcastle Earthquake by Alan Sunderland, was published in March 2021. Alan visited the school which the hero of the story attended.
Irma Gold's debut novel The Breaking was published by Midnight Sun Publishers in March 2021 and is also available as an audio book. It's had some wonderful reviews and despite the pandemic, in between lock downs, Irma, who is based in Canberra where she did the launch, was able to do a promotional tour and speak in book stores in Brisbane, Melbourne, regional NSW cities, and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts in Queensland.
Di Walker's latest work of fiction for middle grade readers, Everything We Keep, was published in April 2021 and was shortlisted in the Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards 2021.
Shanghai Acrobat: An orphan boy's inspiring true story of courage and determination in revolutionary China by Jingjing Xue was published by Black Inc in Melbourne, Australia, Apollo Publishers in the USA in March and April 2021 and as an audio book by Wavesound in August 2021.
A new YA novel by Robyn Bavati, A Weekend with Oscar was published by Walker Books in July 2021. Pauline Hosking wrote a great review in Magpies, Vol. 36, Issue No.4, September 2021: 'A Weekend with Oscar is an important, powerful YA novel. Highly recommended.' Robyn has been visiting schools and Walker Books have prepared some excellent teachers' notes for this book, see here.
Most recenlty, Heather Nimmo's Grasping at Shadows: Balfour the mining town in the Tarkine was published by the Circular Head Historical Society through Forty South. Heather is doing interviews for this special historical memoir.
Hopefully the outlook for public health, the environment and books and publishing will improve in 2022. We have may great stories and proposals out on submission with publishers and film and TV producers and hope to have some good news of book, film and TV deals next year.